The human tongue is not a smooth surface and has numerous protuberances, e.g., papillae, which convey to the brain the senses of taste and touch. However, due to the non-uniform surface of the tongue, it may also be a breeding ground for microorganisms such as bacteria and may retain food debris, volatile sulfur compounds (which may be a major cause of halitosis) and dead cells. Over time, some of the collected material becomes a soft plaque which may be another cause of bad breath and is also known to attack the teeth and gums. Tests have shown that daily scraping to reduce the amount of coating on the tongue may eliminate much of the undesirable bacteria and sulfur compounds, and thus may significantly inhibit plaque formation on the teeth in the long term, and substantially reduce halitosis in the short term.
A wide variety of tongue scrapers are known in the dental hygiene arts. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,435 to Artelli discloses a tongue scraper with a metal blade-like member having an end portion formed to fit between wooden handle parts. A rigid blade-like portion extends forwardly of the handle at the other end in a curve which is configured either for a right-handed person or for a left-handed person. U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,964 to Castanedo discloses a one-piece tongue scraper which includes an elongated handle at one end with longitudinally diverging arms at the other end. The ends of the arms are connected by a longitudinally bowed cross bar having a laterally centered, arched portion and beveled edge faces. U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,704 to Williams discloses a tongue cleaner in combination with a toothbrush. The tongue cleaner is an arcuate scraper member which is centrally secured to the tooth brush handle at the end opposite the brush. U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,475 to Kuber discloses a disposable tongue scraper which is intended to be used only once.
Combining toothbrushes and tongue cleaners is also known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,247 issued Dec. 1, 1998 to Decesare discloses a combination tooth brush and tongue brush. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 377,417 issued Jan. 21, 1997 to Gupta, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 283,952 issued May 27, 1986 to Berkowitz and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 265,270 issued Jul. 6, 1982 to McCarty all disclose combined tooth brush and tongue cleaners. Each of these designs shows a handle portion having a tooth brush at one end and an exposed tongue cleaner fixed at an opposite end.
U.S. Patent Application 20040134008 discloses a tongue cleaner that takes the form of an elongated, linear, flexible strip disposed in a cavity of the tubular handle portion. The strip has a proximal end attached to a movable retainer and a distal end connected to a finger puller which normally closes the open end of the handle portion so that a finger puller is used to pull out the strip from the handle portion for tongue cleaning and push back the strip into the handle portion when tongue cleaning is complete.
While these prior art devices may fulfill their respective objectives, there still exists a need for a combined tooth brush and tongue scraper which may be utilized to remove plaque coating bacteria, reduce halitosis and lead to better overall mouth cleaning and oral hygiene.